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Police have made an arrest in the death of Plano 2-year-old Grace Ford. The father’s girlfriend is now in custody and charged with capital murder. Authorities said that there were inconsistencies in her statement. Ford would have turned 3 years old this month.

But law enforcement officials found the little girl inside of her father’s apartment on January 9. She had duct tape over her mouth and was not breathing. The father’s girlfriend, 25-year-old Melinda Muniz, was also inside of the apartment. Police found her on the floor, also with duct tape on her mouth and her pants pulled down.

Muniz told police that someone had forced their way into the apartment and attacked her and the child. But authorities stated that the story did not add up with the scene.

Police learned that the girl’s father told Muniz earlier that morning that they were going to break up, and that she needed to move out of his apartment. There was not much evidence in the case until the father told them about a Plano store where Muniz often shops. So, they went to the store and asked if anyone had recently purchased duct tape and zip ties.

Employees at the store found a receipt for those items, and video showed Muniz at the store with the little girl purchasing the tape, zip ties, cotton balls and scissors. That evidence led to Muniz’s arrest and a capital murder charge.

Muniz was engaged to Grace’s father, Mitch Ford, and had cared full time for Grace in the couple’s Plano apartment. An arrest warrant affidavit by Plano police stated that Muniz and Ford were in the process of breaking up.

An attack was reported Jan. 9, and Grace was found with duct tape on her mouth. She was on life support for three days before she was declared dead.
[...]

Ford and Grace’s mother, Emily Ward, were involved in a heated court battle over Grace’s custody, according to court records, which were sealed after Grace’s death at the request of Ford’s attorney.

In addition, Child Protective Services had investigated allegations of abuse or neglect involving Grace four times, the agency confirmed. In each case, “CPS either ruled out the allegations or was unable to determine if they were valid.” In two instances, the family was referred to counseling.

But it wasn’t enough to save the bubbly little girl who loved animal crackers and Minnie Mouse.
[...]

Ward said problems with Grace started after her ex-husband began dating Muniz. Ford and Muniz met in October 2012 and got engaged a little more than a month ago, on Dec. 17, according to a post on social media.

After the arrest was announced, Ward posted a message on Facebook, referring to Muniz as a monster.

According to the police affidavit, Ford had texted Muniz several times on Jan. 9, asking about when she would be moving out and when he needed to start day care for Grace. He didn’t get any response.

At 1:36 p.m., Muniz called Ford to say she had just arrived home at their Eastside Villages Apartment complex in the 1500 block of J Place. Ford told police he heard a thud, some screaming, Muniz calling for help, and Grace screaming in the background. He called 911 and rushed home from work.

Police arrived just as Ford was pulling up. Ford buzzed officers in through the complex’s security gate and unlocked the apartment’s front door for police.

Officers found Muniz lying face down in the living room with her pants and underwear pulled down near her ankles. She appeared unconscious and had silver-colored duct tape over her mouth. As the officer removed the tape, she screamed, “Get him out of here.” She told them about an intruder who had dark hair, black gloves and black boots who attacked her.

Grace was found unconscious in her bedroom. According to the arrest warrant affidavit, she was lying face down and partially covered with a blanket. She had gray duct tape over her mouth, and her pants were pulled down around her ankles. She was not breathing, and she had no pulse. Her lips and face were blue, but her body was still warm, the report stated. Responding officers immediately started CPR and called for an ambulance.

Officers found a table and two bar stools knocked over. On the floor was an unbroken vase lying on its side.

“Muniz sat up at one point and fell to the floor as if she had fainted; however, [an officer] noted that Muniz’s eyelids were moving and it appeared to her that Muniz was forcing her eyes closed,” according to the affidavit.

She told police an intruder punched her in the face and arms, forced her to the ground and sexually assaulted her. She told police she then passed out.

According to the affidavit, neither Grace nor Muniz showed signs of sexual assault.

Muniz’s information to police was inconsistent and sometimes in conflict, according to the affidavit.

For example, she first told police that she and Ford weren’t having any problems. She later said they had broken up several times. The vase on the floor had fallen in a different direction from the way the intruder pushed her. She told police the intruder pushed her to the ground and pulled her pants down from behind. But police said her blue jeans were unbuttoned and unzipped. She also changed her story several times about whether she saw Grace with tape over her mouth, the report said.

While Grace was still on life support, Muniz’s family called police to report that Muniz was at the emergency room because she was having difficulty remembering the last year of her life, the report stated. Muniz told detectives who showed up at the hospital that she couldn’t remember the last couple of months but that her memory should return within days.

“It really didn’t make sense,” Tilley said of all the information detectives were gathering. “We don’t want to discount the fact that what she was saying could possibly be true. So we went ahead and we looked into those allegations but we also kept an open mind that this possibly could be a staged scene.”

He said Muniz was placed under surveillance while police continued to investigate and gathered evidence they needed to make an arrest.

seems to me her plan has already unfolded. . . Wtf was she thinking. . . . If i yell rape and just kill the girl he might feel sorry for poor lil ol me and this will buy me more time with him. . With the apartment. . .more time to pack. . . Psycho. . . Bf called it game over with dumb bitch (obviously a good call) but she retaliates by calling game over on his innocent daughter. . . And to fake that she was raped too. . . So low, i wish she could be lower, six feet lower. Buried alive to suffer with a cactus "raping" her while she squirms in a small wooden box (covered in plastic) sucking every last breath out of this cunt -waste of good O2 . . .

Whether or not she gets the death penalty, I hope she has a "great" time in jail. I think they should let the child's family tear her to pieces, but that's just me. Maybe an inmate will do it for them. I can hope.

A friend of mine from HS knows the family of baby Grace and she posted this story on her page last night.
How fucking sad that this crazy bitch would take her anger out on a sweet baby instead of quitting the crazy and moving on with her life.
Maybe her whole life was caught up in that bullshit fairy tale of being engaged and playing mommy so when he called it quits she wanted to take something away from him that would hurt. Like there could be only one girl/woman in his life. Maybe she was secretly jealous of baby Grace idk but I hope her life is never lived outside of jail. She doesn't deserve it.

Mitch Ford told police he met with Muniz despite the fact he was advised not to by police and his attorneys on Jan. 15. He said Muniz continued to act as if she did not recognize him. He questioned her about her claims of amnesia in his car, and later had drinks with her at a restaurant in McKinney where she continued to act as if she didn't remember the last year-and-a-half, Ford told police.

The affidavit states Mr. Ford told police later that night he and Muniz had sex in his car down the street from her house, and as she left, she asked him if anything was going to happen to her. He said he told her Grace had died, but did not give her specific information.
[...]

Grace Ford's family did not want to go on camera to discuss Tuesday's developments, but they issued this written statement:

"God will make sure justice is served to the fullest. What this monster did is as evil as it can get. There is no excuse."

CPS was called to the home on July 20, 2013, Nov. 1, 2013, and Dec. 19, 2013. CPS confirmed the allegations, but was unable to confirm any abuse. A spokesperson said revisiting is common to determine if anything was missed.

According to the affidavit, Grace's grandfather contacted Child Protective Services two days before the incident at Muniz' apartment asking them to reopen the case, and that a pattern of abuse had begun when Muniz and Ford moved in together.

The 2-year-old's mother, Emily Ward, did not want to speak on camera but said she hopes her daughter's murder will bring change that "forces CPS to better protect children." Ward said she accused Muniz of rough handling of her daughter and inflicting bruises in the past, as well as intentionally overdosing the girl with Bendryl.

I can guarantee this psycho bitch was JEALOUS of that baby girl, that disgusting fucking monster! Selfish psycho bitch, I hope Bertha fucks her up good, I truly do, you fucking lying nasty bitch you deserve to DIE!

That beautiful sweet little girl had EVERYTHING over that nasty bitch and she couldn't handle it! Snow white and the Evil Queen but this CUENTE' actually followed through. I hope she gets the Death Penalty and has to sit on Death Row forever! I want this baby girls picture put in this CUNT'S CELL so she can look at the beauty she stole from this world every day until she DIES! On a side note? Daddy? C'mon? How could you fuck her one more time? SHE KILLED YOUR BABY? C'mon how do you sleep after that? Dammit can you please start thinking with your Brain instead of your PENIS PLEASE? You've lost your baby girl, its fucking time to get a damn clue!

On a side note? Daddy? C'mon? How could you fuck her one more time? SHE KILLED YOUR BABY? C'mon how do you sleep after that? Dammit can you please start thinking with your Brain instead of your PENIS PLEASE? You've lost your baby girl, its fucking time to get a damn clue!

I would never tell someone that i was breaking up with them and that they needed to get out of my house, and then leave my toddler with them. But then again, I wouldn't fuck them after said toddler died either.

The affidavit states Mr. Ford told police later that night he and Muniz had sex in his car down the street from her house, and as she left, she asked him if anything was going to happen to her. He said he told her Grace had died, but did not give her specific information.

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Um, he fucked her after he knew she probably killed his baby..dumb motherfucker

I think he just helped her case. I cqn Imagine a lawyer arguing that despite drinks and being under the Influence, she stuck to her story. I think dad was probably aware and condoned the prior abuse, but probably not complicit in the murder.

I think he just helped her case. I cqn Imagine a lawyer arguing that despite drinks and being under the Influence, she stuck to her story. I think dad was probably aware and condoned the prior abuse, but probably not complicit in the murder.

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I am afraid you are right. And if it turns out she "knows" things she shouldn't know, they will blame him for planting the ideas in her head.

Maybe that's what he's trying to do. Maybe they wanted a 'clean slate' without kids and he knew from the beginning. Wouldn't be the first time a father got tired of being a parent. I wouldn't be surprised of they planned the whole damn thing out.

Maybe he was trying to get her to confess? I don't think that drinking some and still sticking to her dumbass story will be too hard to overcome, she could quite possibly have a significant alcohol tolerance and have felt very little after a few drinks. Surprisingly with alcohol I had always been a light-weight,, it was never my thing I liked drugs, but I have met many females that could drink most grown men under the table, and her picture kinda looks bar-skank or drug-slut like to me.

Maybe they wanted a 'clean slate' without kids and he knew from the beginning.

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I doubt it. There are so many ways to kill a child that would be far less obvious than this. I think this was all a ploy on her part to get him "back in her arms" after he tried to dump her. It wouldn't be the first time some woman staged a traumatic event to get some guy to feel sorry for her.

I don't know if she intended for the baby to die or to just be found bound along with her. I'm sure more on that will come out. Either way, Grace is dead.

"Daddy" went to the jail to visit last night. He is obviously thinking with the wrong head.

Our first perspective comes from Jenifer Meier, who lives in the apartment downstairs.

“I just heard some kind of furniture being moved around,” she said, thinking that the couple and toddler might be moving out.

Meier clearly remembers reading in her bedroom and hearing sounds that made her concerned.

"Over my head — which would be their bedroom — there were two really loud thuds, and that really got my attention," Meier said.
[...]

But Plano detectives have their own take on what happened in Apartment 331. They believe Muniz herself is responsible for what happened to Grace, and the cover-up that followed.

"At this point, all the evidence suggests that she was working alone in this," said Plano police spokesman Officer David Tilley.

Investigators say the strewn furniture and attacker story don’t jibe. Doctors found no evidence that Muniz had been sexually assaulted. But they’ve found enough to see her charged with capital murder for Grace Ford’s death.

Late Wednesday night, Grace’s father, Mitch Ford, visited Muniz, where she’s being held at the Collin County Jail

If this is legit - WTF is he doing fucking her and visiting her in jail? Is he trying to play detective? Mentally dense? Pussy whipped?

A Plano father is struggling with both grief and guilt after his former fiancé was charged with murder in his young daughter’s death. Grace Ford, 2, was found unconscious in her father’s apartment earlier this month. An autopsy found that the toddler was suffocated. Melinda Muniz, 25, is now jailed, charged with capital murder.

“I left Grace at home with someone who was capable of this,” said Mitch Ford, “it’s insane.”

According to the arrest warrant issued in the case, Muniz staged a home invasion robbery just hours after Ford told her he was ending the relationship. The couple argued on the morning of January 9 after Ford found an explicit video on her cell phone that he said Muniz sent to another man. But, Ford insists that he would have never left Grace with Muniz if he felt that she was in danger.

“I had full custody. She’d watched Grace every day for the last year. I thought everything was okay,” says Ford. “She didn’t even seem upset when I broke up with her.”
[...]

“I failed. I failed as a father,” says Ford, who told CBS 11 that he blames himself for bringing Muniz into his and Grace’s lives. “I don’t give a sh** in the end if it was a staged thing to get back with her or if it was her choking Grace out. It’s the same to me. You put duct tape over my daughter’s mouth. You’re a piece of sh** just like you shot her in the face.”
[...]

“She needs to get the death penalty,” says Ford, who now calls his former fiancé ‘evil.’ He then reconsidered, saying, “no, she needs to get life in prison without parole and die when she’s 90 years old thinking every day about what she did.”

Mitch Ford told News 8 he blames himself for failing to see the warning signs.

"She is such a good manipulator and liar," he said. "She's been lying to me my whole relationship, and unfortunately, it's my fault. And now, I fell for it and my kid's dead."
[...]

Ford told News 8 Muniz was upset because they were breaking up. He believes she staged the attack to get sympathy.

"At the end of the day, what happened was she put the duct tape on Grace, and Grace suffocated and died," he said. "She had a plan to do that and the plan went wrong."

Ford said it's not the first time Muniz has been accused of staging an attack. He said on another occasion, she claimed she had been mugged at a grocery store in Plano, but he has since learned that was not true.

But he said he never imagined this tragic outcome.

"To me, it's completely insane," Ford said. "There's no way in hell I would have ever left my daughter with her if I had thought she was capable of that. There's no way. I would have never done that."

Ford also had a lot to say about the child's biological mother, saying that she was not involved in Grace's life.

Fuck that if your accused or under suspicion of killing my kid why O WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU FUCKING HER AND TAKING HER OUT TO EAT? Really it pisses me off and it comes off as he is almost defending her or giving her an easy out "Detective I took her out to eat and drink last night and she acted like she didn't know me but I fucked her in the back of my car and then she asked if she would be getting in trouble but she doesn't remember nothing" Yeah ok she went out and fucked you without knowing who you are but then asks if she is going to get into trouble for what if you don't remember anything such fucking bull shit off with her head!!!!!

The thing is this little girl was 2 and she would definitely know who did this and would be able to tell. The only way that """" would even remotely be able to get away with it would be for the child to die. Premeditated murder.